Death threats target director of controversial Winnie-the-Pooh film
Rhys Frake-Waterfield, the director of Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, has received several death threats because of his horrifying version of the classic children’s cartoon.
He spoke to Variety early in 2022 and explained that the movie follows Winnie and Piglet as they become Killers after Christopher Robin goes to college.
He said, “Christopher Robin is removed from them, and he’s not [given] them a meal. It’s made Pooh and Piglet’s life somewhat tricky.
‘Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey’ has grossed over $1.52M at the domestic box-office.
The film cost less than $100,000 to produce. pic.twitter.com/TDQV7O3cFc
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) February 19, 2023
Since they’ve often had to fend for themselves, they have become feral. So they’ve returned to their animal roots. They’re no longer tame: they’re like ferocious bears and pigs who want to go around and try and find prey.”
Interestingly, the filmmaker was one of the first people to capitalize on the expiration of the copyright for A. A Milne’s books, which Disney has been in command of until recently.
How was this Winnie-the-Pooh Adaptation Possible?
According to US law, copyrights expire 95 years after a work is published. Winnie-the-Pooh was first released in 1926.
‘Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey’: Inside the Viral Micro-Budget Slasher Hoping to Slay the Box Office (EXCLUSIVE) https://t.co/xjUAcWOBy1
— Variety (@Variety) February 7, 2023
However, the director took pains to ensure it did not infringe Disney’s copyright. For example, the Pooh of Blood and Honey wears a red flannel button-up instead of the red t-shirt from Disney’s Pooh, and famous characters like Tigger do not star in the film.
“We’ve tried to be extremely careful,” he told Variety last year. “We knew there was this line between that, and we knew what their copyright was and what they’ve done.
He continued, “So we did as much as possible to make sure [the film] was based only on the 1926 version.”
Frake-waterfield quickly seized the opportunity to incorporate the characters into his low-budget horror flick, with the movie’s production starting early last year.
‘Winnie The Pooh: Blood and Honey’ has grossed $1.52 million at the domestic box office.
The film’s budget was $100K. pic.twitter.com/iNJH8KdNVG
— Pop Tingz (@ThePopTingz) February 19, 2023
Though Low-Budget, the Movie Went Viral
According to reports, the producers created the movie for less than $100,000. It has gotten much attention from online users and earned $1 million in less than two weeks in Mexico since its premiere on January 26.
This compelled the movie’s distributor, Fathom Events, to expand its US launch from what was supposed to be a one-night-only release to a 9-day run in more than 1,500 theaters nationwide.
The Backlash
Frake-Waterfield disclosed that some people had been so angry with his version of the cartoon that they even sent him death threats.
Frake-Waterfield, who had just made his debut with the Winnie-the-Pooh adaptation, had to admit he was not expecting this reaction.
REVIEW: ‘Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey‘ exploits the end of the teddy bear character’s U.S. copyright — to violently unimaginative ends. https://t.co/j2QSeSZdjd
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) February 17, 2023
“Look, this is mental,” he exclaimed. “I’ve had petitions to stop it. And I’ve had death threats. I’ve had people say they called the police.”
This has convinced Frake-Waterfield that his movie might achieve the highest “budget-to-box-office ratio” since the 2007 movie: Paranormal Activity, which was made for about $15,000 but became a billion-dollar franchise.
“I believed in the idea. Other people didn’t, and now it’s doing alright,” the director remarked. The horror movie will be up for UK release on March 10.
He confessed he had only hoped his movie “might do a mini-theatrical run in certain areas.” He said, in all honesty, that he did not expect this amount of success or backlash.
The horrifying slasher has excelled so much that Frake-Waterfield is already working on a sequel. This might be the beginning of the next billion-dollar franchise.
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